The present invention relates generally to a system and method for dynamic vergence correction in binocular displays.
Binocular displays, such as binocular helmet mounted displays (HMDs), are known to be used in aircraft applications, both in in-flight applications, and in flight simulators. For a binocular display, the left eye sees a left eye image display, while the right eye sees a right eye image display. In in-flight applications, a pilot wearing a binocular HMD generally has freedom to move his head so as to look anywhere through an aircraft canopy and windscreen, where the pilot may view a target object on the aircraft canopy or windscreen at an apparent viewing distance via the binocular HMD. Similarly, a pilot wearing a binocular HMD in a flight simulator has the freedom to move his head within a “head motion box” and at a desired orientation to view a target object on a simulator screen of the simulator.
Binocular displays, such as binocular HMDs, are typically designed with a single fixed vergence distance, meaning the imagery appears to come from a certain distance, and does not change, unlike what happens in an environment without a binocular display, where one may change eye focus and vergence to maintain single vision perception of objects. Objects closer or farther away will be perceived as double, which is referred to as diplopia.
Browne et al. (Browne et al, “Improving the Utility of Binocular HMD in a Faceted Flight Simulator,” Interservice/Industry Training Simulation and Education Conference 2009, Paper No. 9178) disclose correcting vergence error. The approach disclosed in Browne et al., however, is limited to correcting vergence errors in faceted, flat faced, simulators.